Re the response to the removed toe on the Harlans Hawk,
This does not affect his ability to deal with quarry in any way ! This bird is regularly used in the hunting season and is flown on a almost daily basis as an display bird for educational purposes As a Redtail Variant we have found Guinness to be very Laid back and acceptable to flying in public display outside of the hunting season (UK) this is not common amongst most Redtails who prove to be usually to fixed in their ways to accept the variances that display birds have to face.
This may be just an individual birds nature as opposed to the norm but as Guiness is One of only a handful (I only know of six) of Harlan’s in the UK (Guinness is the only one used in the hunting field) Its hard to be definitive unlike with the majority of Redtails Flown.
We will continue to fly guiness as a Hunter/ Educational bird untill we can find an unrealated female when he will enter a breeding program (Guiness is one of the first Captive bred Harlans in the UK)
Mike.
Last Edit: Dec 27, 2005 13:27:10 GMT -5 by redtailnut